The Woes of Robert Vadra

Robert Vadra, right, with wife Priyanka Vadra, left, in New Delhi in 2008.

Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, hit back at allegations that he had improper financial dealings with a real-estate company. But the way he did it also attracted criticism.

On Friday, Mr. Vadra was accused at a press conference by anti-corruption activists of receiving favorable treatment from DLF Ltd., one of the country’s top real-estate companies. His accusers said they were basing their critique on public records. He, DLF and the Congress party that his mother-in-law heads, have all denied any impropriety.

Mr. Vadra is a New Delhi-based businessman whose interests include handicrafts exports, hospitality and real estate.

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On Sunday, after the accusations against Mr. Vadra made the front pages of many of Saturday’s local newspapers, Mr. Vadra was then criticized for allegedly terming India a “banana republic,” on Facebook according to local news reports. Mr. Vadra’s Facebook account could not be accessed Monday, and neither he nor his representatives could be reached for comment.

India Against Corruption, the anti-corruption movement that propelled activist Anna Hazare to a national profile last year, noted the posting. “Today Robert Vadra has written ‘mango people in banana republic’ on his Facebook page,” Kumar Vishwas, an IAC member said on television news channels Sunday.

Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan, the two men who accused Mr. Vadra of improprieties Friday, are longstanding members of IAC. Mr. Kejriwal is in the process of setting up a political party.

Messrs. Kejriwal and Bhushan claimed Friday that Mr. Vadra had received property from real-estate firm DLF Ltd. at favorable rates. They alleged that the company, in turn, received favors from Congress governments in several states. The proferred records they said came from the Registrar of Companies, part of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Mr. Vadra claimed that the accusations by the two men were intended to “malign my family in order to gain cheap publicity for themselves and for the launch of their political party.”

Mr. Vadra is married to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – the granddaughter of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, daughter of Congress party President Sonia Gandhi and sister of Rahul Gandhi, a senior Congress official and the man widely-tipped to be the party’s prime ministerial candidate at the next national election, scheduled for 2014.

Mr. Vadra, in the statement to NDTV, said his business dealings were “fully reflected” in financial reports that were submitted to appropriate government authorities. “They are available in public domain to anyone interested in knowing the truth,” he said in the statement.

DLF also denied the allegations. In a statement issued Sunday, it said, “DLF vehemently denies any quid pro quo in its transactions with Mr. Vadra and his group of companies.”

“We wish to categorically state that the DLF has given no unsecured loans to Mr. Vadra or any of his companies. Further, we have never received any undue benefit from any state government or any government authorities in any part of India,” it said. A spokesman said the company had no further comment Monday.

On Monday, DLF’s shares were trading 6.3% lower at 226.50 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange, compared with a 0.8% decline in the benchmark index.

Mr. Kejriwal said the DLF statement is “full of half truths and lies.”

“A lot of information has been suppressed,” he said on television news channels Sunday.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded an investigation. “Those involved in it should come up with concrete clarifications to put an end to the issue,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told India Real Time Monday.

Congress, however, has ruled out an inquiry against Mr. Vadra. Congress is the main party in the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition in New Delhi.

“We can’t probe private deals without specific allegations or quid pro quo,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said during a television press conference in New Delhi Monday.

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